Chevron GROUP 12

MIS

Group 12

Ankit Jain

Barkha Kothari

Harshit Shukla

Ronak Jain

Chevron Corporation: IT Implementation

Chevron Corporation: IT Implementation (MIS)

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Index

1.0 Introduction

2.0 IT in Chevron

2.1 Improving Data quality

2.2 Manage Data effectively

2.3 Implement automated software

2.4 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES 2.5 Other Initiatives regarding Knowledge management in Chevron

3.0 Chevron Aims to Accelerate Production and Reduce Downtime through Implementation of New Business Intelligence Platform Providing Consistent, Available Data in Real Time

4.0 BBM Solution

5.0 Question Answers


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1.0 Introduction:

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX; commonly known as Chevron) is an American multinational energy

corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States. It operates in more than 180

countries. Chevron is engaged in the oil, gas, and geothermal sectors, including exploration and

production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power

generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies. For the past five years

(through 2012) Chevron has been ranked as America's third largest corporation in the Fortune 500[3][4]

In 2011 it was named the 16th largest public company in the world by Forbes Global 2000.[5][6] Chevron

is one of the largest corporations in the world by revenue.

Chevron traces its roots to an oil discovery in Pico Canyon (now the Pico Canyon Oilfield) north of Los

Angeles. The discovery led to the formation, in 1879, of the Pacific Coast Oil Company (also known as

"Coast Oil"), the oldest predecessor of Chevron Corporation.[citation needed]

Another side of the genealogical chart points to the founding of The Texas Fuel Company in 1901, a

modest enterprise that started out in three rooms of a corrugated iron building in Beaumont, Texas,

United States. This company was known as the Texas Company and later Texaco.[citation needed]

Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil merged in 1984, which was the largest merger in history at that

time. To comply with U.S. antitrust law, SoCal divested many of Gulf's operating subsidiaries, and sold

some Gulf stations and a refinery in the eastern United States. The same year, SoCal also took the

opportunity to change its legal name to Chevron Corporation, since it had already been using the well-

known "Chevron" retail brand name for decades.

On October 15, 2000, Chevron announced it would acquire Texaco (NYSE: TX), creating the second-

largest oil company in the United States and the world's fourth-largest publicly traded oil company with

a combined market value of approximately $95 billion. On October 9, 2001, the shareholders of Chevron

and Texaco voted to approve the merger, creating ChevronTexaco in a deal valued at $45 billion.

On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco announced it would drop the Texaco moniker and return to the

Chevron name. Texaco remains as a brand under the Chevron Corporation.

On November 9, 2010, Chevron announced it would acquire Pennsylvania based Atlas Energy Inc.

(NASDAQ: ATLS) for $3.2 billion in cash and an additional $1.1 billion in existing debt owed by Atlas. On

February 18, 2011, the shareholders of Atlas energy voted to approve the merger in a deal valued at

$4.47 billion.

2.0 IT in chevron:

Here we will discuss the implementation of IT in Chevron Corporation in following points:

o Improving Data quality

o Manage Data effectively


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o Implement automated software

o KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES

o Other Initiatives regarding Knowledge management in Chevron

And also these technologies:-

1) Chevron Aims to Accelerate Production and Reduce Downtime through Implementation

of New Business Intelligence Platform Providing Consistent, Available Data in Real Time

2) BBM Solution.

2.1 An overview of Chevron’s Top 10 Information Types and the associated projects

for improving data quality

New standards for a suite of Data Management software tools have been implemented:-


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2.2 Manage project data more effectively

The geological and geophysical (G&G) community of Chevron North America E&P Company, Gulf of

Mexico works with huge amounts of well data that is stored in approximately 100 project databases,

ranging in size from 200 to 17,000 wells. This highly active region presents major challenges for the data

managers and IT professionals who are responsible for maintaining data integrity and synchronicity

across the computer systems of all project stakeholders.

Although project and master data from Chevron, Texaco, and Unocal was consolidated after the

companies merged, the Gulf of Mexico Data Management group desired further streamlining to

alleviate the many resource- and time-intensive tasks being performed manually.

The painstaking job of tracking down and then correcting data issues, such as missing wells and

wellbores, was creating a growing resource allocation problem. It was also becoming more difficult to

keep information in sync with the steady stream of new well data entering the master database from

various vendors and government agencies, in addition to the data being loaded by G&G community

members into their project databases. Some process improvements were developed in-house using the

existing software, but a great deal of effort continued to be spent on nonstandardized procedures that

yielded only incomplete results.

To meet Chevron’s quality and productivity expectations, the Data Management group decided to look

for newer QC technologies to complement the software already in place. These would preferably be


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from the same vendor and able to deliver organizational gains in time efficiency and data accuracy while

minimizing any impact on resources. A major goal was to be more proactive in finding errors, correcting

them, and keeping project data in sync with the most up-to-date well data in the master database—

rather than waiting until a data request was received.

2.3 Implement automated software

Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS) recommended the new, cutting-edge QCPro bundled software

package with QCSync and QCLogix capabilities to supplement existing InnerLogix applications and help

achieve full DQM automation. Upon implementation, these tools provided the extensive functionality

that Chevron NA required in the Gulf of Mexico region, enabling its data analysts to

■ define their own “pass” rules, based on four standard measurement categories: completeness,

consistency, validity, and uniqueness

■ rely on the software to automatically find errors, correct them according to predefined rules, and

update projects with high-quality well data

■ quickly view all failures in various formats (maps, reports, graphs, etc.)

■ Run assessment and correction jobs on a regular basis

■ easily verify location-specific data online (zoom in on an exact area and compare master data against

project data)

■ remotely monitor interpreters’ activity (modifying, adding, or deleting data)

■ perform fewer manual tasks (i.e., when reviewing “failed” data at the back end of the automated

correction process).

2.3.1 Improved efficiency and freed resources

Chevron is now able to perform automated QC analysis of data with improved reliability and near real-

time synchronicity, which has led to higher-quality data in both the master database and in multiple

project datastores. The impact on resources has been positive, freeing personnel to focus on reviewing

data at the back end when something is missing or in need of human intervention to ensure

completeness and accuracy. The manual correction process has been simplified by automating some of

these tasks, which has also allowed reallocation of Chevron resources to other areas where their

expertise is needed.

In addition to standardization of data across the user community, the most significant gain was the high

level of accuracy resulting from the implementation upgrades, which has increased the interpreters’

confidence in the data they receive after it has been analyzed and corrected by QCLogix and QCSync

software.

ChevronTexaco streamlines its European quality assurance operation with TaskCentre:-


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2.4 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES: Chevron wanted to explore, develop, adapt, and adopt knowledge management methods to leverage its expertise throughout the enterprise to maintain a competitive position in the marketplace. The improvements gained from identifying, sharing, and managing intellectual assets can impact positively on drilling, office work, safety, and refineries. Improvements were generated by focusing on process, culture, best practices, and technology, including Internet technology. Chevron uses knowledge management in drilling, refinery maintenance and safety management, capital project management, and other areas. The electronic document management system impacts on several different areas at Chevron. Drilling. Chevron adopted an organizational learning system (OLS) that improves drilling performance by sharing information globally. The system uses a simple software tool to capture lessons from the first wells in a new area, and then uses that knowledge to drill the rest of the wells faster and cheaper. Well costs have dropped by 12 to 20 percent, and cycle time has been reduced as much as 40 percent in some cases (offshore drilling vessels can cost up to $250,000 a day). Oil & Gas Consultants International developed the OLS for Amoco. Chevron found it through a best-practices survey. Refineries. The company uses knowledge management is to maintain six refineries. Sam Preckett, reliability-focused maintenance-system manager, is developing a process to improve information and knowledge sharing. Preckett and others realized that they were not effectively using the data and information already stored in Chevron's enterprise information systems. Preckett has been developing an informal best practices methodology for maintenance by "trying to learn how we do things." Getting knowledge to users is only part of the system; another part captures the tacit knowledge and experiences of workers. Chevron is trying to motivate workers to participate. Preckett said that at Chevron creative thinking is promoted from the executive level, which "allows him to do interesting things" to achieve efficiency gains through knowledge sharing. Electronic Document Management. Another specific need under the knowledge management umbrella was addressed by the DocMan system, initiated in December 1994 to improve the timeliness of document access, management, and integration, and sharing of information among individual divisions to meet regulatory compliances. A long-standing application, DocMan works for the Warren Petroleum Limited Partnership Mont Belvieu complex in Texas (of which Chevron is a joint owner). To handle cultural resistance to change, management emphasized the benefits of the DocMan system: faster access to documents, elimination of wasted effort searching for documents, and assets protection. DocMan delivered a 95 percent return on investment over its 5-year project life. The investment payout period was 1.1 years based on an annual savings of $480,000.


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Capital Project Management. Through knowledge management, Chevron implemented a new standard methodology for capital project management. In one case, 60 companies shared data and practices, and so it was possible to compare performance to determine which companies were best and why.

What have been the overall results? Improved management of knowledge was instrumental in

reducing operating costs from $9.4 billion to $7.4 billion from 1992 to 1998 and in reducing energy

costs by $200 million a year. During the 1990s, efforts like this were essential in reducing costs,

achieving productivity gains of over 50 percent (in barrels of output per employee), and improving

employee safety performance more than 50 percent. Chevron now calls itself a learning

organization. Some gains from knowledge management at Chevron are qualitative: Employees'

work is more interesting and challenging when it involves finding and applying new knowledge. Jobs

are potentially more fulfilling and more personally rewarding.

2.5 Other Initiatives regarding Knowledge management in Chevron:

Chevron’s definition of knowledge management is processes, tools, and behaviors that deliver the

right content to the right people at the right time, and in the right context so they can make the

best decisions, exploit business opportunities, and promote innovative ideas. Chevron’s CEO Ken

Derr has been a strong spokesperson for knowledge management. The message he wants to deliver

to Chevron employees is that Chevron needs to capitalize on what it knows. He cannot, however,

dictate knowledge sharing for the company as a whole due to the decentralized nature of the

organization. Each operating company has to design and deploy its own knowledge-sharing

initiatives. Knowledge management at Chevron is usually referred to as best practices. In the 1990s,

Chevron started benchmarking with other companies to analyze how it could drive costs out of

some of its processes. The focus was on achieving operational excellence. During this period, the

emphasis was on knowledge creation. Individuals who came up with new ideas tended to be the

ones rewarded.

The number of inventors, however, was very small compared with the number of business

problems that needed resolution, so Chevron employees started looking outside their own

operating companies for solutions. This was the first “aha!” for Chevron, but a crucial one in its

movement toward internal transfer of best practices within its various operating companies. Along

with learning from within operating companies, Chevron started learning from others outside the

enterprise through external benchmarking. Knowledge creation, internal transfer of best practices,

and external benchmarking constitute the structure of Chevron’s learning organization. Learning

through knowledge creation refers to learning through new experiences, through successes and

failures, and through dealing with continual change. Leveraging existing knowledge through best-

practice transfer, conferences, networks, company publications, cross-operating functional teams,

meetings, databases, performance metrics, training, and quality/share fairs is referred to as internal

learning. External learning refers to learning from others through benchmarking, competitive


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comparisons, customer support, feedback, education and training, literature searches, and books

and conferences. Even with Chevron’s past successes in the transfer of best practices, it realized

that internal transfer of best practices alone was not the best way of doing business. In 1998

management saw gaps in the strategy and recognized that knowledge management was more than

best-practices transfer. The focus was to find ways to embed knowledge management in Chevron’s

processes, products, and services. To achieve this goal, management had to address the term

knowledge management and look at how tools, processes, and behaviors affected knowledge

sharing at Chevron. The initiative focused on connections between knowledge, people, and the

business. Chevron needed better ways to help employees find recorded knowledge or

information—a strong strategy to link people together so they can share, use, and learn. Chevron

answered this challenge by connecting people with questions/problems to people with answers (via

an electronic skills/expertise directory and by connecting people through communities of practice

or virtual teams). Of course, the real value comes from connecting people and knowledge to

Chevron’s business—its critical processes, products, and services.

HISTORY

Chevron’s journey into knowledge management is rooted in its TQM initiative that began in 1985.

Initiating TQM led to the implementation of new processes, metrics, an internal Baldrige

assessment, and worldwide employee surveys. In the early 1990s Chevron experienced

breakthrough results in cost reduction in the refining, energy management, capital project

management, and supplier alliances areas. Best-practices transfer became a part of doing business.

These early wins led to leadership focusing on how to reinforce sharing behaviors in order to

continue these positive results. Successfully Implementing Knowledge Management In the past two

years, several small, corporate-sponsored projects have looked at successes and gaps in the

knowledge management strategy and developed recommendations and tools that would close

those gaps. Many other groups are developing knowledge-based applications without even

recognizing that they are excellent knowledge management examples.

DEVELOPMENT

The basic knowledge management strategy at Chevron is focused on connections and the concept

that ideas, practices, connections, and experiences come through customers, partners, and

communities. Sharing these ideas, experiences, and practices helps create better practices. Chevron

wanted to connect people to explicit knowledge by providing an intranet knowledge map

(“find.Chevron”), by improving search tools/portals, and by improving knowledge-capture

processes (FAQs); to connect people to people by linking those who have done similar things and by

linking those who have solved similar problems; and to connect people to communities and virtual

teams by motivating knowledge sharing and reuse behavior, facilitating communities of practice,

connecting people and knowledge to Chevron’s key business processes, looking for “knowledge

gaps” in critical processes, and leveraging knowledge in products and services. Chevron’s primary


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value proposition has been operational excellence, and the new thrust in e-business is adding a

strong element of customer intimacy. There is also growing interest and activity around innovation

and creativity—perhaps the new KM frontier.

OVERALL STRATEGY

Due to Chevron’s decentralized nature, individual operating companies define their own strategies.

It is difficult to design and execute corporatewide initiatives, although recent experiences with a

standardized IT platform and the collaborative work done to achieve Y2K compliance are good

success stories. Overall, knowledge management strategies are aligned with strategic business

objectives, offering KM as one way of accomplishing goals. These strategies are communicated

through an informal knowledge management community of practice and are being used to begin

sharing examples of knowledge practices and applications. Chevron is seeing a gradual shift from a

focus on operational excellence (cutting costs, cycle time, etc.) to a growth strategy based on

innovation. This is clearly seen in its e-business activity. Chevron’s knowledge management strategy

is placing greater emphasis on the rapid flow of knowledge to transfer innovative ideas and

practices and the connection of people to people to quickly answer questions and solve problems.

Chevron’s main thrust has been on best practices, thus knowledge assets are the primary driver for

its knowledge architecture. Although both accessing knowledge assets and the flow of knowledge

have always been important aspects of building the strategy, between 60 and 70 percent of the

effort has been on access and retrieval of assets up to this point (greater emphasis will be placed on

communities of practice in the future).

The IT and corporate quality groups teamed to design the strategy with input from the knowledge

management network. IT and corporate quality made awareness presentations and

funded/managed the development of key tools such as Knowledge Connection, People Connection,

and the CoP model. Later in 1999, an IT team consisting of the original planner/architect, a

database technologist, and a communications specialist was formed to concentrate on applications

for the IT service company. Members of the knowledge management network had informal

meetings to share these plans within their respective organizations.

Besides contributions from internal project managers, engineers, and consultants, Chevron’s

strategy leveraged information and guidance from literature, APQC, IT analysis groups (e.g.,

Gartner), and conferences. There was some collaboration with EDS, Chevron’s IT outsourcer, and

Ernst & Young’s knowledge management consortium also contributed to the strategy design.

Expanding the knowledge management strategy throughout the organization required the aid of

the corporate quality group to catalyze the initial efforts around best practices. It facilitated

networks such as the Senior Quality Network, a focal point for sharing business process practices.

Similar teams were formed to support many processes throughout Chevron. Refining best practices

started with a core of 10 teams and quickly expanded as other natural teams saw the value in


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collaborating and sharing practices. The “next generation” KM efforts are transferred by the

knowledge management CoP and by presentations to various business groups and teams.

In all cases, the expansion has gone most rapidly when senior management has been directly

involved in the projects (e.g., project management, refining, Chevron Retailer Alliance). Chevron

realized that communities of practice are a key delivery mechanism for creativity and innovation.

Employees also need quick access to the information and knowledge required to accomplish the

task of cutting costs and achieving safety objectives. Knowledge organization/search and retrieval

tools and behaviors to make documenting successes and lessons learned a required part of the

Chevron work process still need improvement.

Chevron’s Port folio

Chevron’s portfolio of knowledge management products and services include the intranet,

Knowledge Connection, best-practice teams/communities of practice, find. Chevron (Yahoo-like

intranet map), People Connection (skills/experience directory that links people who have done

similar things and solved similar problems), project-focused best practices/lessons learned

databases, organizational learning tools, Exchange, Netmeeting and other GIL tools, Lotus

Notes/Domino and other collaboration tools, data mining tools and consulting, customer-driven

knowledge-sharing applications (CBEST/CRA), and online FAQs (e.g., HR services).

These tools form Chevron’s “experience” and can be tapped into by employees from several

different sources. For example, an employee looking for information can start by looking in People

Connection for a person who might have that information. That search may lead to the knowledge

that a community of practice exists around the topic, and the individual may choose to become a

member of the group to get more information. The employee also can access the KnowledgeBase

directly to check if the knowledge already exists in Chevron. The KnowledgeBase is kept updated by

CoP members as well as individuals who extract and validate the group’s learnings and enter them

into the KnowledgeBase. Technology has played a significant role in the evolution of Chevron’s

portfolio of products and services. When the initiative was first started, e-mail and collaboration

tools such as Lotus Notes, Internet newsgroups, and Collabra Share were used. These tools required

their own support infrastructure and weren’t universally available. With the intranet and a

standardized hardware and software platform, corporate IT is able to drive knowledge-sharing

applications through an easy-to-use and universally available browser.


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3.0 Let see how Chevron Aims to Accelerate Production and Reduce Downtime Through

Implementation of New Business Intelligence Platform Providing Consistent, Available Data in

Real Time:-

Goals and Objectives

● Predictive analysis (Manage the Amber)— real-time data aggregation, which is transparent

and widely available.

● Enable best practices to be shared across assets, business units, and globally.

● Flexible business model able to integrate with both existing applications and future

technologies.

● Foundation for Operational Excellence. A framework for IT solutions aligned to business

directions and which meet safety and productivity goals.

● Enable business decisions to be made based on a single trusted source of data.

Solution: Project Seer

A real-time IT infrastructure that delivers ‘one version of the truth’. This is achieved by

extracting specific data and events from dozens of different sources, delivering it to appropriate

people and business units, and enabling them to support continuous improvement across the

whole of the business. The Seer project is also helping achieve the larger goal of enabling

transformational change across the whole of Chevron Upstream Europe (CUE). This is a scalable

software platform that will cross organisational boundaries to manage the complete business

decision cycle. It can potentially help most Chevron employees make better use of real-time

intelligence in their everyday activities, and make a greater contribution to the business as a

whole. The ability to integrate real-time data and business systems aims to improve the

execution of informed business decisions exactly when and where required.

Chevron’s strategic approach to managing information can be compared to the oil value chain.

Seer is a complex IT project, similar in many ways to an exploration program. Exploration starts

with a belief that there is a prospect worth drilling, and a discovery well proves this. Over a

period of years, with lots of specialised expertise, the field is developed, processing systems

come on line and the oil is sold. Seer begins with the belief that timely accurate data is a

valuable asset that can provide a competitive advantage. Seer drills into applications, databases

and a variety of data sources and exposes the appropriate data to the correct people, loads the

data into analytical tools and provides a single point of access in a user friendly web

environment. This ensures timely, accurate data is delivered to the appropriate specialists to

support better decisions leading to improved performance.


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Industry Drivers (Operational Excellence)

The drive towards operational excellence lies at the heart of Chevron’s overall business strategy. The

organisation constantly evaluates and refines the business processes that connect people, information

and assets. However, recent analysis suggests that the current processes that support data capture and

reporting on key information are not potentially optimized to maximize employee productivity, a result

of which is duplication of effort, and preventing effective data management and transparency.

In particular, the company wants to better identify business critical situations that can be prevented in

advance and reduce the cost and regulatory issues associated with reactive, rather than proactive

business behavior.

To achieve this goal, CUE wanted to both improve the aggregation and delivery of business data,

without placing an additional burden on the resources required to provide asset management and

operation teams with this information.

The challenge involved in achieving this goal is well illustrated by CUE, which collects a vast amount of

data from its assets. This includes personnel data, daily production reports, well tests, and health and

safety data. However, this data is stored in multiple locations in various stages of manipulation, making

it difficult, and sometimes impossible to undertake wholescale data analysis in a timely manner. The

challenge becomes even tougher when you mix together real time and relational parameters and Seer


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delivers this to the business making analysis and trending a lot easier. Operational safety policies are

given the highest priority with respect to business values. The health and safety of people who work at

Chevron or are affected by its operations is the company’s highest priority. Chevron wants all employees

and contractors to arrive home safe at the end of their work day. To that end it is committed to ‘Zero is

Attainable’, a goal of completely eliminating incidents from its operations.

Other issues include

• Disparate systems, some performing the same function. This leads to large numbers of interfaces,

often highly complex in nature, as well as considerable maintenance overheads.

• ‘Silos’ of data, leading to duplication of data. It was very difficult to aggregate or drill down to desired

levels of detail, and make cross-asset and vendor comparisons.

• Data systems from many vendors that is difficult or expensive to integrate. Large number of

spreadsheets maintained by many units or individuals. De-centralized data and intellectual capital, could

lead to compliance issues, for example, Sarbanes-Oxley.

• Current end-user tools are based around applications from many vendors with different look and feel,

and require extensive training. In many cases, they cannot be customised to the specific requirements of

end users.

• Other potential lost opportunities including:

- Reduction in downtime

- Optimisation of production

- Elimination of unplanned maintenance costs

- Maximising resource productivity on value-added opportunities

Seer can be an enabler to address these and other opportunities. This will help continued development

and improvements in the way the business units are run. In early 2004, CUE began working with

Microsoft, to build a solution that would manage data and information, so that it could be delivered in

real time, or as historical data to authorised managers and operations staff.

IT Investment Portfolio:

Chevron’s policy when it comes to procuring and developing IT solutions is clear and unequivocal. Put

simply, the company focuses on its core business activities and goals, rather than tie up resources and

assets in the development of bespoke, in-house technologies Chevron prefers to work with technology

vendors, systems integrators, and other partners who can deliver or build best-ofbreed, off-the-shelf

solutions, that support the companies business goals in the extraction of gas, oil, and asset

management.


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Recent Initiatives

Recent IT strategies include Global Information Link (GIL), which standardized employee desktops

worldwide. GIL connected people, information, and processes more effectively than ever before and

saved the company tens of millions in operating costs every year.

More recently, Chevron has implemented NetReady, to provide next-generation networks for its

growing global businesses, supporting new data demands, and enabling more than 150 significant Web

and e-business initiatives that are underway to improve operations or reduce costs.

Other enhancements include GIL 2, which involves further upgrades to employee hardware and

software; improved security; and the establishment of a centre for Web applications development. This

drive towards technology standardisation has enabled different units of the business to lower their costs

and improve processes by maximizing the advantages offered by IT.

Project Seer

In line with its best-of-breed approach to technology acquisition, CUE in the UK along with its

implementation partners, is developing a solution, based on the Services Oriented Business Intelligence

Framework (SoBI), named Project Seer Stage 1 – Captain. CUE is leveraging this strategic technology

alliance with OSIsoft and its RtPM platform to deliver tools and expertise in the area of real-time data

integration, management and visualisation. The OSIsoft PI server forms a core part of the Seer data

warehouse, closely integrating with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to provide a unified view of time series

and relational data to provide higher quality information to the business at all levels.

The i-Field Vision

Project Seer is a key building block for the i-field programme, and i-field’s key objective is to create new

and emerging integrated work processes and technology that help Chevron optimise production,

reliability and operating costs. The i-field methodology is expected to eventually lead to a transformed

approach to ongoing oil and gas operations.

Project Seer Stage 1 – Captain will be used to demonstrate quick wins and long term benefits. It will also

be a solid architectural foundation for future i-field projects..

Short-Term Objectives

Project Seer will replace the current parts and pieces of data gathering and utilisation with an integrated

approach based on a common architecture, mapping the workflow and systems required to support the

business operations. It will enable business process rationalisation and help simplify, standardize and

connect current and future CUE systems.

The SoBI framework (jointly created by Conchango and Microsoft Services) is based on two well-known

and well-understood architectural approaches:


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• Service Orientation—Exposing systems, application and data as services.

• Business Intelligence—A platform consisting of:

- Data Warehousing of key analytical data.

- Time Series Data feeds and analysis.

The project will deliver a set of tools which will provide an integrated view of the multiple sources of

data in an oil field operation. Chevron will build this framework so that it can grow within and across

installations worldwide.

Quick Wins

During the run up to year end 2005, the project will deliver a series of Quick Wins to maximise the

impact on the organisation. These focus on:

• Safety—HES Reporting; Behaviour Based Safety Reporting, Information & Metrics.

• Production Losses—Daily Production & Operations Reports; Process Graphics with real time trending;

Loss Reporting.

• Equipment Efficiency—Good/Bad Day Scorecard; Equipment Drawings.

• IT Operational Reporting.

Logical Services

The diagram below shows the SoBI architecture from a high-level, highlighting the logical services which

form the building blocks. The logical services can be split into a number of separate layers, each with a

specific purpose:

• Presentation—The Seer presentation layer provides users with access to the Seer services and data

through the Seer Web User Interface (UI). This is the primary interface through which users will interact

with Seer. Seer also supports the ability to provide services and data to other applications or services

within CUE, and to provide access to the data in the warehouse for analytical or data intensive

applications.

• Data and Service Delivery—Access to the services and data provided by Seer is through data access or

service access layers. These layers enforce the authentication and authorisation of users and

applications attempting to access Seer.

• Seer Services—These are the core services offered by Seer, including reporting, aggregation of data,

and personalization and metadata services.

• Seer Warehouse—The Seer data warehouse consists of integrated relational and time-series data

warehouses. These warehouses combine to provide a unified view of the data from both the relational


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and time-series aspects of the source data. The relational aspect of the Seer warehouse is structured in

terms of the Seer data model based on the industry standard PPDM (Public Petroleum Data Model). The

tag naming conventions for the time-series aspect of the Seer data warehouse will be driven by SBU

level standards, and ultimately by corporate naming standards.

• Data Integration Layer—The data integration layer provides the mapping and transformation from the

source systems and data sources to the Seer data model. This layer also provides the replication ofthe

necessary time-series data from the local production historian(s).

• Data Sources—The data which feeds Seer comes from a variety of disparate systems across the

enterprise, including other applications (or systems), services, data stores, files, manual input and time-

series information from the production historian(s).

• Common Services—The Seer architecture is supported by a number of services which address cross-

cutting concerns such as security, management, logging, and auditing. Services’ as well as the ‘Delivery

Services’ of SoBI framework. The purpose of this architecture is to highlight how the different types of

data will be handled in the solution.

• Time Series Data will be hosted in the Real Time Historian database. Aggregated data from this source

will be available to the data warehouse via a Web service.

• Non Time Series BI data will be hosted in the data warehouse. This data will be available to the Time

Series Data platform via web services.

• Where the structure of the BI requirement can be predicted, it will be met from these two platforms

via Web services.

• Where the requirement cannot be predicted, the client system may make a direct connection to the

appropriate data tier. For example, Analysis Services access directly to the data warehouse.

• All data in the data warehouse is considered historic—irrespective of the refresh rate from individual

systems.

• The data warehouse will not be considered to be a data owner; it will be a read-only environment.

• The data warehouse will be created with a purpose and a set of requirements to support. It is not

simply a dumping ground into which all possible data is collected just in case it is needed.

• The data warehouse will be designed, shaped, and built to support reporting and analysis. (A key to an

effective data warehouse implementation is performant access to pre-aggregated data).

• Where a mapping function has been defined within the data warehouse to support data consolidation

across multiple Systems of Record, the mapping function will be exposed as a Business Service.


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SoBI Architecture: Infrastructure

Services and Delivery Services

The SoBI framework allows for different types of data to be handled according to its individual required

purpose.

• Operational data will be hosted in the System of Record. Non BI enquiries, i.e. analysis, will always be

fulfilled by the owning service. If for operational reasons the service cannot meet this requirement, an

additional service interface will be implemented to proxy the system and cache the necessary data.

The following data operations are likely to be undertaken as part of the data consolidation process:

• Cleansing and consolidation—data will be changed for purposes of consistency and integrity. Where

this involves a mapping operation, that mapping will be made available to the architecture as a service.

Where this involves a correction to data, details of that correction will be fed back to the System of

Record via a request to the owning service.

• Data validation—data may be changed in the data warehouse to support the requirements of the data

model where this does not imply a semantic change to the data warehouse to comply with the

requirements of the target data type.

• Referential Integrity—data not in the source system may be added in the data warehouse as a

placeholder to maintain the integrity of the data in the database. This may occur when disparate source

systems provide data at different times (e.g. transactional values supplied before associated reference

information has been received). This will be stored as private placeholder data within the business

intelligence service. A notification may be sent to the source system to ensure that an error has not

occurred and when the reference data becomes available the data warehouse will be brought back in

line with the System of Record.

One of the principles of Service Orientation is that data belongs to a service and the only way to access

that data is through the published interface of the service. Services are the owners of their data and any

changes to that data must be requested through the service interface.

Integrated Innovation

To support Project Seer and longer term i-field objectives, the project team is implementing a full range

of Microsoft technologies. CUE can enhance management of its assets.

Through SSIS event handling and notifications can be improved thus reducing unscheduled asset

downtime.

Microsoft® SQL ServerTM 2005

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2005 is used for data extraction, transformation and loading. SQL Server

Integration Services (SSIS) is a new application that provides a data integration platform making it easier


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for the non-developer to support creation of custom tasks and data transformations. As SSIS is aligned

with the service orientated nature of the Seer architecture, it facilitates faster development with less

proprietary code needed to support the requirements of the project. The XML source adapter, WMI task

and Web Services task reduce the amount of development required to build a solution that adheres to

the Program Seer enterprise architecture.

SSIS supports improved monitoring and manageability through greater breadth of log providers. It also

includes built-in lineage auditing, which has the potential to enhance compliance-related tracking of

data movement. Also being used is SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services which is key to the definition of

business logic in a single place and the delivery of KPI’s, and also the use of SQL Server Reporting

Services 2005 which alongside RtPM webparts is the key technology for delivery of information to the

Seer UI.

Microsoft Windows ServerTM 2003

For Project Seer, CUE has standardized the base operating systems by deploying Microsoft Windows

Server 2003 across the architecture. This makes it easier to deploy, manage, and maximise the

productivity of existing technologies. Windows Server 2003 SP1 importantly provides enhanced security,

increased reliability, and simplified administration.

Microsoft Windows SharePoint® Services

CUE is using SharePoint Services to allow the teams to create Websites for information sharing &

document collaboration, benefits that help increase individual and team productivity.

Microsoft .NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005

CUE is using the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio 2005 to accelerate development of

applications for Microsoft Windows, the Web, and mobile devices.

Web Service Enhancements 3.0

CUE is using Web Services Enhancements for .NET (WSE) to build secure, interoperable Web services

quickly and easily. For Seer, CUE is developing distributed applications based upon WSE 3.0 as this

ensures compliance with open web service specifications such as WS-I Basic Profile (http://www.ws-

i.org), thus ensuring that the services delivered by Seer are open and interoperate with non-Microsoft

platforms.

Business Benefits

Project Seer will enable the drive towards zero incidents. Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) and the Total

Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) have continued to fall over the last five years and Seer will continue to

support this. Using independent analysis from Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), potential

key business gains have been identified including production acceleration, reduced asset downtime and

increased efficiency. Through the implementation of Project Seer, access to timely and accurate data


Group 12 Page 20

that is in one place can enable predictive management of critical business issues. The project

architecture means that CUE can integrate its data into a quality-assured, quality-checked,

comprehensive solution. Critically, the vision of ‘One version of the truth’ will be realised. This

architecture enables CUE to use an integrated platform that interoperates with existing disparate

systems to continue to share information. In line with this solution, Chevron can continue its approach

in selecting best-of-breed products and solutions that they can integrate with future technologies and

existing enterprise architectures building on the Project Seer framework.

Being able to analyse data ‘at a glance’ enables units and individuals to conduct a comparative

assessment of assets, leading to a pro-active approach to scheduling maintenance, for example. Rather

than dealing with unforeseen incidents, a common tool will alert Seer users of equipment or business

conditions that require their attention. Depending on the alert classification, the user can decide on the

best course of action to take. Management also benefit by being able to make consistent data-driven

business decisions with confidence.

Top five prospective benefits of implementing

Project Seer:

1. Access to timely and accurate information supporting predictive management of critical safety and

business issues;

2. Improved visibility of CUE assets enabling comparative assessment ‘at a glance’;

3. Enables immediate, accurate measurement of key base business performance indicators including

safety awareness;

4. Allows management to make consistent data driven business decisions with confidence;

5. Resources released from data gathering— re-invested value added activities such as increasing

production efficiency and reducing injury incidents.

Safety target at 0 incidents Chevron manages health and safety performance through its Operational

Excellence Management System (OEMS). OEMS spells out a range of detailed expectations for its

business units’ health and safety processes. Chevron believes that improving fluency in OEMS and

building a safety culture will lead to continuous improvement in its safety performance. Seer will

provide this fluency through consistently available accurate data that pertains to the assets and safety

processes. CUE has identified that safety is the key business driver. Project Seer will enable the drive

towards zero incidents. By looking at the process trends and process schematic of the plant assets,

production engineers will be able to monitor flare or gas emission rates and take appropriate actions

wherever necessary. All safety incidents are investigated to determine the root causes and steps needed

to prevent recurrence.

Learning is broadly shared to encourage prevention. To that end the Lost Time Injury Rate (LTIR) and the

Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) have continued to fall over the last five years and the Seer solution


Group 12 Page 21

will continue to support the reduction in TRIR. Chevron is committed to reduce fatalities and all

incidents to zero. Asset downtime reduced by 1-10 per cent Asset downtime is the bane of any industry.

4.0 BBM Solution

Chevron performed a global deployment of the next generation Agiloft BPM system in June 2007. Agiloft

hosts the SaaS service on a dedicated server. The BPM SaaS service is based on the Java EE platform and

provides graphical workflow, full audit logging, and an extensible Business Rules engine.

Agiloft provides Chevron a highly secure BPM solution that supports the increasing demands of effective

governance and compliance.

Leveraging Java technology in the enterprise

Agiloft leverages open standards software and hardware to build a highly secure, flexible and scalable

solution. Java’s innovative technology helps Agiloft provide cost-effective solutions that can be used by

clients to turn business burdens such as compliance governance and customer support into a strategic

competitive advantage. The results include secure 24x7 access to data, increased system performance,

and improved employee productivity.

Agiloft built its BPM platform on the Java EE architecture, industry-recognized for its flexibility and

adaptability. “The reason our BPM solutions are so flexible, allowing development of a custom workflow

solution in 90 minutes for a service that traditionally takes IT departments 90 days, is that we built a

platform that provides full adaptability through the browser, without writing a line of code. This

adaptive platform leverages the open standard Java EE architecture for enterprise connectivity,

scalability and security,” said Colin Earl, Agiloft CEO.

Java EE is the industry standard for developing portable, robust, scalable, and secure server-sided Java

applications. Java EE significantly reduces the cost and complexity of developing and deploying multi-tier

solutions. As a result, Agiloft and its customers can rapidly deploy and easily enhance and extend the

BPM solutions without programming.

Accelerating productivity

Agiloft addresses the two main concerns for companies deploying BPM solutions: implementation time

and system flexibility. The engine both automates repetitive tasks to boost employee productivity and

provides precise access control based upon the employee's role and group membership.

Agiloft uses Linux servers with hotswap redundancy as an expandable enterprise building block for

delivering large-scale global services with rapid performance and unparalleled uptime.


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Solution Benefits

1. Rapid implementation, lowering development costs.

2. Extensibility without programming.

3. Increased performance, allowing faster access to data.

4. Increased employee productivity, through task automation.

5. Improved security, with precise access control.


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Que 1: What is the role of IT in CHEVRON at strategic, tactical and operational level?

Strategy and Management (at strategic level) Capability Building Blocks

Vision Vision for IT Innovation needs to be defined, communicated and reacted/realised

Strategic Planning Broadly defining scope of impact of IT Innovation in line with business strategy

Funding and Resource Allocation

Broader source of funding and appropriate allocation of resources based on prioritisation

Portfolio Management Visualising innovation activities within the life-cycle for decision making

Strengths: - Innovation strategy is well established and aligned with business Suggested Improvements: - Increase seed funding, especially for new technologies

People and Culture (at tactical level)

Capability Building Blocks

Management Leadership Visibility of direction and support of leadership to drive innovation

Acceptance of Risk Taking Level of attitude towards taking creative risks

Collaboration Level and the scope of collaboration at the employee level

Capability Development Skill development and performance management for employees

Roles and Responsibilities Penetration of innovation activities as everyday work at the employee level

Rewards and Recognition Scheme of rewarding people based on contribution to IT Innovation

Strengths: - Chevron culture supports collaboration and puts a high value on ingenuity - Chevron also leverages collaboration with external parties Suggested Improvements: - Continue to encourage and enhance risk taking practices and to grow leadership practices that promote innovative culture

Process, Tools, and Metrics (at operational level)

Capability Building Blocks

Processes Integration of the processes within the whole life-cycle of IT Innovation

Frameworks Sharing and leveraging methodologies and tools for


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Innovation

Measurement Measurement of impact from IT Innovation

Communication of Value Communication of impact from IT Innovation within IT, to business, to externals

Strengths: - Good focus on Idea generation, supported with tools and processes for creative thinking and ideation Suggested Improvements: - Continue to extend processes and tools from ideation processes through the innovation value chain to production

Que 2: What information systems are deployed in CHEVRON? What are their purposes?

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Operational Excellence is complex and multidimensional. It has to be in order to address all of the potential risks and causes of incidents that can impact our workforce, the environment and our assets. To help navigate this complexity, they developed the Operational Excellence Management System (OEMS). This is Chevron's comprehensive approach to managing process safety, health and personal safety, the environment, reliability and efficiency. It establishes expectations and requirements for our business units and guides leader behaviours to manage, prioritize and continuously improve our efforts to protect people and the environment.

OEMS is the basis for assuring compliance within operating companies and business units across the enterprise. Through disciplined application of OEMS, they integrate Operational Excellence into daily operations. The system focuses on:

Reducing the risk of incidents Improving performance Assuring compliance Preparing for potential emergencies

OEMS contains corporate expectations stating how They will address risks in 13 key areas, including

Design and construction of facilities

Safe operations

Management of change

Reliability

Efficiency

Third-party services

Environmental stewardship

http://www.chevron.com/about/operationalexcellence/managementsystem/reducingincidents/

http://www.chevron.com/about/operationalexcellence/managementsystem/improvingperformance/

http://www.chevron.com/about/operationalexcellence/managementsystem/assuringcompliance/

http://www.chevron.com/about/operationalexcellence/managementsystem/emergencypreparedness/


Group 12 Page 25

RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS

Chevron's risk management process helps identify and address health, environment and safety risks, and it enables periodic re-evaluation and continual improvement. As part of their ongoing risk management cycle, every Chevron business unit analyzes its operations to identify risks. From that analysis, action plans are defined and steps are taken to reduce risk.

Managing Risk in Drilling Operations

Chevron has extensive processes and procedures in place to manage and evaluate the risks of oil and gas production. They are committed to advancing safe drilling operations through our well design process, and proposed changes in well design or construction are managed with a structured change-management process.

Chevron adopted an organizational learning system (OLS) that improves drilling performance by sharing information globally.

Managing Risk in Manufacturing

Refining petroleum involves a complex network that operates around the clock to produce millions of barrels of energy every day. To ensure the safe and reliable operation of our facilities, Chevron places the highest priority on personal and process safety at our refineries at all times. They have rigorous programs in place to identify, manage and reduce risk, including frequent, routine equipment inspections, system and process hazard identification evaluations and extensive personnel training

Managing Risk in Development of Natural Gas from Shale

Chevron produces natural gas from shale rock formations in the eastern United States and is conducting exploration programs in Argentina, Canada, China and Eastern Europe. They apply our rigorous safety and environmental standards and processes to these efforts.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Chevron's emergency management efforts are focused on prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. They have processes and tools in place to effectively manage emergency response, business continuity and crisis management efforts. Their executive crisis management committee conducts annual exercises to prepare for a range of scenarios that may affect the corporation or require coordination across multiple operating companies.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT


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The company uses knowledge management is to maintain six refineries. Sam Preckett, reliability-focused maintenance-system manager, is developing a process to improve information and knowledge sharing. Preckett and others realized that they were not effectively using the data and information already stored in Chevron's enterprise information systems. Preckett has been developing an informal best practices methodology for maintenance by "trying to learn how we do things."

Getting knowledge to users is only part of the system; another part captures the tacit knowledge and experiences of workers. Chevron is trying to motivate workers to participate. Preckett said that at Chevron creative thinking is promoted from the executive level, which "allows him to do interesting things" to achieve efficiency gains through knowledge sharing.

ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Another specific need under the knowledge management umbrella was addressed by the DocMan system, initiated in December 1994 to improve the timeliness of document access, management, and integration, and sharing of information among individual divisions to meet regulatory compliances. A long- standing application, DocMan works for the Warren Petroleum Limited Partnership Mont Belvieu complex in Texas (of which Chevron is a joint owner). To handle cultural resistance to change, management emphasized the benefits of the DocMan system: faster access to documents, elimination of wasted effort searching for documents, and assets protection. DocMan delivered a 95 percent return on investment over its 5-year project life. The investment payout period was 1.1 years based on an annual savings of $480,000.

CAPITAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Through knowledge management, Chevron implemented a new standard methodology for capital project management. In one case, 60 companies shared data and practices, and so it was possible to compare performance to determine which companies were best and why. What have been the overall results? Improved management of knowledge was instrumental in reducing operating costs from $9.4 billion to $7.4 billion from 1992 to 1998 and in reducing energy costs by $200 million a year. During the 1990s, efforts like this were essential in reducing costs, achieving productivity gains of over 50 percent (in barrels of output per employee), and improving employee safety performance more than 50 percent. Chevron now calls itself a learning organization. Some gains from knowledge management at Chevron are qualitative: Employees' work is more interesting and challenging when it involves finding and applying new knowledge. Jobs are potentially more fulfilling and more personally rewarding.

ASSET DATA MANAGEMENT

Improving data integrity was considered crucial to optimizing maintenance productivity and enabling refinery reliability programs by reducing the time spent by planners and maintainers identifying and requisitioning parts.


Group 12 Page 27

Que 3: What is the role of Enterprise Web in CHEVRON?

Key Business Drivers:

Information-intensive with wide time-scales

Work takes place across geographies

Capital-intensive with long-lived assets

Global

Standardization for information exchange between enterprise and business partners

Information integration and delivery

-Provides application interoperability by connecting information from highly diverse sources and having

a shared, common understanding of the data to facilitate enterprise application integration.

Some Semantic Web technology activities in Chevron:

ETC Reservoir Management and Production Engineering

– Integrated Asset Management (IAM)

Drilling & Production knowledge management/data exchange

Major Capital Projects Operational Systems (MCPOS)

– ISO 15926 Ontology and Reference Data Library – MCP Facilities Engineering

And ETC exploratory pilot on the Unix file system

Que 4: Comment on "IT outsourcing in Chevron”.

Ans: Chevron Corporation is using IT outsourcing to cut costs, free up internal resources to focus on core

competencies, and leverage IT for competitive advantage. This will help to focus on providing a common

global network computing environment for the corporation and on developing custom information

technology services to yield a competitive advantage for Chevron's core oil and gas operations. They

focused on outsourcing those services that somebody else can do better and cheaper because of scale

or geography on a stable basis. Prior to outsourcing its services to any firm, Chevron thoroughly analysis

its chances of success.

The company seeks to prioritize applications that are candidates for outsourcing and focus its initial

efforts on those with the highest maintenance cost and the lowest outsourcing risk. By assigning risk

scores and prioritizing potential applications for outsourcing, ChevronTexaco develops a logical sourcing


Group 12 Page 28

process to ensure that its initial outsourcing portfolio has the greatest chance of success and can serve

as a successful foundation for continued migration of support toward low cost alternatives. Final scores

assist with both transition time estimation and support- staffing requirements.

Chevron outsourced services such as Accounts payable business process outsourcing, Call center

outsourcing, Application Development and maintenance etc.

Chevron has outsourced its certain functions to firms such as:

1. Chevron outsourced its few operations to EDS, GTE, and Sprint. Contracted services will include

mainframe, voice and data network services, and information technology support.

2. IBM worked on merging separate SAP systems that were in use when Chevron and Texaco merged in

2001.

3. IBM provides the oil producer with hosted software services, offshore outsourcing facilities, and

business-process outsourcing services.

4. IBM's Business Consulting Services provides consulting for projects that focus on IT- driven processes

such as supply-chain management, procurement, and outsourcing.

Que 5: Elaborate on network (wired & wireless) capabilities of CHEVRON.

Ans: The company’s multi-billion dollar investments in sophisticated equipment for oil fields and

offshore rigs provided part of the solution but still required numerous personnel to operate and

monitor. Wireless sensors have long been an important part of these investments, but installing wireless

sensors is labor intensive and adds significant cost. Chevron had long considered using wireless, but the

earliest point-to-point wireless sensors lacked reliability and a unifying standard that would allow

multiple vendor interoperability.

However, a lot changed in wireless sensor technology in a few short years, and today the potential for

standards-based wireless field devices in Chevron’s operations represents a large opportunity.

The promise of wireless

For Chevron, a wireless sensor network had to address a number of key factors. These include:

Monitoring rotating equipment such as pumps, including those in remote oil fields

The extraction of more sophisticated information regarding device diagnostics and preventative

maintenance data, believed to be “stranded” in the devices and inaccessible to the existing

control system


Group 12 Page 29

The addition of equipment not previously monitored due to the limitations of installing wired

infrastructure

The testing of new applications including the extension of the process control network to mobile

operators

In addition, the associated processing equipment was located at the edge of the well pad to maintain

clearance. A wireless sensor network was installed to provide complete sensor connectivity between the

well and equipment.

Mesh wrap around transmission

The harsh environments at industrial locations such as a remote oil field or a refinery are notoriously

hostile to radio frequency (RF) signals. The use of concrete, steel, and glass in the construction of typical

plants exacerbate the traditional RF issues of path loss, fading, and multipath signal interference.

To solve this problem, Chevron deployed a type of wireless network called a “mesh” network where

each field device acts as both a sensor and a relay device (or router) for the radio transmissions, creating

an interlocking web of sensors. This requires minimal power because the data radio transmission travels

just a short distance to reach nearby nodes, and only needs to communicate for a short period between

measurements, allowing sensor batteries to last for an average of five to seven years in the

WirelessHART devices deployed.

The wireless sensor network, in turn, communicates with plant’s wired infrastructure, which sends data

back to the control room for monitoring and analysis.

If one node goes down, the system simply finds an alternative path for sensor traffic by looking across all

available RFs, then enhancing the signal through a spread spectrum coding technique that moves the

message from node to node, an approach called “channel hopping.”

In addition, replay protection prevents attacks on both the link layer and the network layer by using

non-repeating replay counters as was denial-of-service (DoS) protection although channel-hopping

protocol diminishes the risks of a DoS attack by using the entire radio space.


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Immediate and term benefits

Over the longer term, Chevron believes wireless sensing will play a pivotal role in allowing plant

personnel to further optimize the process and respond more quickly to equipment and process

malfunctions. Predictive techniques will further optimize preventative maintenance schedules as well,

saving technician time.

Chevron plans to build out a wireless backbone meant to directly integrate into the process control

network and create points of entry for the sensor networks. This will provide a high-speed, reliable

wireless backhaul capable of moving the process sensor data from the process units back to the control

room, in some cases miles away.

The wireless mesh network for the backbone platforms on IEEE 802.11 technology, a radio standard

proven to co-exist with the sensor network’s IEEE 802.15.4 standard.

Chevron’s architecture also includes end-to-end security across both networks and a guarantee of

quality of service to ensure critical plant data gets through.

Chevron originally envisioned that the integration of these two networks might include convergence

with network access for mobile worker handheld devices, or general-purpose computing devices,

conservative planning resulted in a revision to that portion of the project.

Chevron’s preliminary security analysis showed a more detailed assessment was required to address

WiFi enabled clients. However, as mobility remains a critical element, security of handheld devices is on

the agenda in the projects’ next phase.


Group 12 Page 31

Que 6: Why and how a private cloud solution was used at Chevron and what were its benefits?

The Comptrollers Department at CHEVRON served as the central hub for vast amounts of information and has the responsibilities to collect process and distribute a constant flow of financial data and reports. To meet the ever evolving demand for data and analytics, very often it would rely on processes build around e-mail, the exchange of large numbers of spreadsheets for collecting data in a semi-structured manner, and accompanying documents with instructions.

CHEVRON recognized the inherent limitations of these ad-hoc processes and the lack of security and traceability that comes with them. To overcome these obstacles the Comptrollers Department used CloudBasic.

CloudBasic was a private cloud solution that can accommodate a series of applications to share a common architecture but utilize different financial models. All systems support flexible model definition with provisions for calculated fields, cross-section references and user-defined layout arrangements. Tight integration with the enterprise security infrastructure ensures the privacy of the sensitive data the Comptrollers Department deals with on a daily basis. Each individual application implements unique rules and business logic for screening and verification of user inputs as well as compliance with corporate accounting standards. Iterative workflows with multiple stages are implemented with full traceability, communication logging and aggregated workflow status reporting.

Benefits:

Process manageability: With clearly defined workflows and state transitions the implemented solutions provide standardized processes that are easy to follow and manage.

Dynamic platform for innovating: Because almost all aspects of the underlying financial models are available for customization through a simple point-and-click mechanism the Comptrollers Department can respond quickly to new requests or changes in regulations.

Improved security: Safeguarding sensitive information is a fundamental requirement when working with financial data. The centralized storage of all data, combined with the integrated role-based security system guarantee that access is granted only in accordance with corporate security policies.

Que 7: Why is Innovation Management important to us?

Ans: Chevron has a rich history of innovation and ingenuity is one of Chevron’s core values. In the

context of The Chevron Way, ingenuity is described as: ‘We seek new opportunities and out-of-the

ordinary solutions. We use our creativity to find unexpected and practical ways to solve problems. Our

experience, technology and perseverance enable us to overcome challenges and deliver value.’

Supporting and enabling employees to fulfill the ingenuity value is important to us. The Chevron culture


Group 12 Page 32

is a creative, innovative one and innovation has been critical to Chevron’s success. As the challenges to

meet the world’s energy demands continue to grow, innovation will be that much more important to

Chevron’s future. The Chevron team believes they can achieve an even greater level of excellence by

sharing innovation processes across the company. Chevron IT is in a unique position to support the

coalescing of Innovation processes. It is IT that supports many of the processes that underpin creative

breakthroughs. IT also crosses business boundaries. But with increasing demands for IT to deliver more

for less, Chevron must ensure that IT investment delivers business value. It is important to ensure that

capabilities for innovation are in place and that innovation is focused to truly add value. Chevron IT was

interested in measuring the value that IT can deliver through investment in innovation. Members of our

Innovation Team joined The Innovation Value Institute and participated in the Innovation Management

(IM) Working Group to engage in research, best-practice sharing and definition of IM practices. The

Working Group defined a unique framework for assessing and managing IT Innovation as part of the IT-

CMF.

Que 8: How Chevron had made use of information technology to add it to

its success story?

Ans: The transformation has already improved operations. Through a collaboration of IT members in

Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom and the United States, Tengiz operations adopted a tool for network

configuration that resulted in increased reliability and a simplified network environment. Additionally, as

part of Chevron’s efforts to continually improve its environmental performance, six emissions reporting

projects, including greenhouse gas reporting, collaborated across the corporation to develop one

comprehensive report for government regulatory agencies. In another example, the joint efforts of the

Australasia operations and IT teams in California and Texas identified an existing enterprise wide search

solution that is expected to deliver robust technical capabilities now and in the future. “Critical to a

successful transformation is the mindset ‘One Vision. One Journey. One Team,’” said George.

“Organizations are working together and taking an enterprise wide approach to achieve what’s best for

Chevron.” Given the scale and complexity of the IT operations that span Chevron’s diverse businesses

and locations, the transformation defined a long-term strategy with three year targets:

• Prioritize IT investments to better align with Chevron’s business strategy.

• Simplify the IT environment, with fewer data centers, applications and suppliers.

• Integrate global IT assets through consistent planning, control and standards.

“At the heart of each objective is the relationship between the line businesses and the IT function, which

is changing from customer and service provider to great business partners,” said Louie Ehrlich,

Chevron’s chief information officer.


Group 12 Page 33

At company operations throughout the world, employees are experiencing improved data access and

productivity, as Chevron’s information technology (IT) function transforms. In 1997, Chevron

implemented a global initiative to standardize desktop hardware and software. This indicated things to

come, as Chevron has continually increased the speed and reliability of communications and improved

collaboration capabilities. Now Chevron is moving to the next level and embarking on an IT

transformation that will help the company more effectively leverage information and information

technology, according to Willy George, general manager of the IT transformation program.

Que 9: How Information technology helped Chevron in implementing its

Repetitive Stress Injury Prevention (RSIP) Plan”?

Ans: ChevronTexaco gave its safety teams a mandate to develop a plan that would decrease the RSI rate

to zero. Key stakeholders including medical experts, health and safety professionals, IT staff, ergonomic

consultants and leaders from across the organization came together to develop a Repetitive Stress

Injury Prevention (RSIP) Plan that would function as policy to move the company towards achieving its

zero injury goal. Early in 2001, ChevronTexaco implemented the RSIP Plan across the organization, with

a focus on U.S. locations first. Implementation began with an aggressive data collection effort through

use of the validated online assessment tool, which determined relative risk levels. To date, data for over

30,000 employees exists. This data is being ongoing automated communications, email sent by health

and safety staff or supervisors through the System, and manual record updates .During its initial data

evaluation, ChevronTexaco discovered that more than 30% of employees who used the tool were high

risk

The technology used by ChevronTexaco empowers employees and supervisors to mitigate risks

themselves. One important component of successful risk reduction is the automation of messages to

high and moderate risk employees (and their supervisors). After providing data through the online

assessment, each employee receives online office ergonomics training. Employees are then entered into

a “feedback loop.” Depending on their risk level, they automatically receive ongoing email

communications describing their risks as well as remediation recommendations. Supervisors receive

copies of the same emails to ensure they remain informed. Regularly, employees are asked to answer

additional questions about their work habits and workstation setup. The software application

automatically updates each employee’s risk profile based on the new data. This gives ChevronTexaco a

continually updated corporate ergonomic profile of its employee base.

Once an employee becomes low risk, he/she receives less attention unless the risk increases to

moderate or high levels. Therefore all employees, including low risk workers, are asked to update their

profiles at least once per year. Capturing the updated information allows ChevronTexaco to recognize

job changes, office moves, and of course, changes in existing environments. For employees who

experience discomfort, ChevronTexaco has implemented a program called Rapid Response. The Rapid

Response team consists of highly trained individuals, usually in the field of occupational therapy or


Group 12 Page 34

physical therapy. This team works closely with high risk individuals, providing more personalized

attention to help them reduce discomfort levels.

Que 10: How can you say that Chevron provides an unparalleled career

opportunities to support every aspect of Chevron’s global mission to find and

deliver the energy the world needs today and tomorrow?

Ans : Chevron provides wide career opportunities in different areas of information technology and

provides an experience to develop ones skills, talents, perspectives and passion by collaborating with a

worldwide network of talented colleagues and partners. Various areas where Chevron provides career

growth are

1) Business and Technical Applications : helps to build and integrate applications that enable

global business processes. Working with business units, you will develop, configure, maintain

and support our business and technical computing applications.

Challenging work assignments include:

•Managing our global ERP information systems

•Supporting high-performance computing, such as seismic and reservoir modeling

•Developing our global retail and fuel pricing systems

•Supporting real-time data acquisition, monitoring and control

2) Data and Information Management: helps to develop, deploy and maintain enterprise wide

standards, processes, controls and systems to manage the exponential growth of our data and

information. You may also help deploy a corporate wide file plan that will enable users to find

needed information.


•Architecting, modeling and managing data solutions

•Designing data warehouse and business intelligence solutions

•Developing and managing extensive electronic and hard-copy materials

3) Consulting and Business Support: will manage plans and budgets and will develop business

cases for projects of varying type, size and complexity. You will work with the business units to

model their processes and identify opportunities to leverage technology.



Group 12 Page 35

•Managing plans and controls for projects

•Facilitating behavioral changes associated with technology adoption

•Developing business cases for IT solutions including budgets and cost tracking

•Developing commercial plans for IT products and managing external suppliers

4) Infrastructure Design and Support: will provide an opportunity to design, implement and secure

the global network, servers and desktops to enable our core business. You may also provide

one-on-one end-user support to ensure optimal utilization and performance of our general and

high-performance computer systems.


•Developing desktop, server storage and backup solutions

•Developing a secure network that prevents and detects intrusions

•Interacting with end-users to resolve problems and trouble-shoot

•Implementing high-performance computing and visualization solutions

Que 11. How Chevron did take RFID offshore? How the company did gave the

example to the world that RFID can be used in shipping operations?

Ans: ChevronTexaco Gulf of Mexico Exploration and Production Co. operates more than 100 oil-drilling

or -production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The 400 to 600 men and women who toil on the more

than 100 ChevronTexaco oil-drilling or -production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico at any given time

require a wide range of supplies for operations, everything from fuel and large drill components to

groceries and laundered clothing. But because storage space on a drilling platform is limited, a supply

ship must frequently visit each platform to deliver provisions and pick up worn-out or broken parts,

trash, dirty laundry and other items and bring them back to the one of three onshore warehousing and

shipping terminals that ChevronTexaco operates along the Gulf of Mexico. Depending on its use, each

platform needs supply shipments from twice per week to every day. The mainland base facilities send

prepared shipments to the offshore platforms between 10 pm and 2 am, with the shipments arriving at

the platforms around 6 am. Often, suppliers deliver their goods to the mainland base just prior to the

scheduled departures to the offshore platforms, so supplies need to be quickly sorted, tracked and

loaded. The mainland base facilities receive supply shipments from hundreds of suppliers, all with paper

manifests. These manifests need to be entered manually into an electronic inventory program called a

shore base manifest application (SMA) that ran on server located at the base facility. Currently, the

manifests for supply shipments are made using the SMA and then printed out. Shipping and receiving

personnel at the base facility use this paper manifest to put together the shipments for each offshore


Group 12 Page 36

platform and load them onto the supply boat. The paper copy of the manifest is then given to the boat

captain to bring to the platform with the shipments, and a copy is faxed to the platform. Looking to

improve the efficiency and accountability of its supply shipments to offshore oil-drilling or production

platforms, the company decided to try RFID technology in a field test. The pilot would track shipments

between one of ChevronTexaco's more than 100 offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and a

shipping/receiving/warehousing onshore terminal Venice, Fla. Although during the pilot, these paper

manifests would still be created and used because not all of the items being shipped were tagged, in a

permanent deployment of the RFID technology, all items would be tagged and the paper manifests

would be replaced by electronic ones.

To help it implement the trial, ChevronTexaco worked with the Smart Chips Project of Fiatech, a

nonprofit consortium of construction companies, material suppliers and academics focused on speeding

the development and deployment of technologies in the construction industry. Fiatech's Smart Chips

Project is studying how auto-ID technologies, including RFID, can be used in the construction

industry. Fiatech's Smart Chips Project invited , a radio frequency systems developer based in Boulder,

Colo., to provide the RFID technology for the pilot .An IT project manager and an IT analyst employed by

ChevronTexaco were involved in the establishment and design of the pilot. They made several visits to

the shore base and offshore facilities before the launch of the pilot in order to meet with the shipping

and receiving personnel, all of whom are contract employees, and explain how the pilot project would

work, what roles they would take, and how the RFID technology functions. They checked in with the

personnel both at the onshore and offshore locations before each shipping/receiving cycle, in order to

confirm that all of the equipment and software was functioning properly.

Chevron GROUP 12

Documents

handle cultural resistance

smart chips project

wasted effort searching

private cloud solution

meet regulatory compliances

solved similar problems

wireless sensor network

knowledge management umbrella